


Falling

by Odestaholyship



Category: Hunger Games Series - All Media Types
Genre: Annie Cresta - Freeform, F/M, Finnick Odair - Freeform, Odesta, finnick x annie - Freeform, the hunger games - Freeform, thg
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-15
Updated: 2015-11-15
Packaged: 2018-05-01 18:38:15
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,121
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5216426
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Odestaholyship/pseuds/Odestaholyship
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Before Finnick and Annie had even realized that they have feelings for each other, they lied on Finnick's kitchen floor one night because neither of them could sleep due the nightmares. They talked for hours, and eventually Annie fell asleep with her head on his chest. That night, Finnick realized he was falling for her."</p>
            </blockquote>





	Falling

 

If Finnick had expected to hear something specia at two in the morning, it definitely was not a faint set of knocks on his front door. The silence had been building up around him for hours now, and in a matter of seconds it all shattered as the knocks echoed through the rooms; Finnick had to admit it, he was greatful to hear something else besides his own thoughts and the horrors of the nightmares that still kept haunting him, night by night. As hesitant as the knocks had been, they most definitely were there, and before Finnick even realized it, he was on up on his bare feet. The floor felt cool against his skin, sending shivers all over his body that was nearly limb with exhaustion.  
Finnick’s hand hesitated for a moment on the door handle, but the moment was over before it really could even build up - he figured that anything would be better than this silent loneliness, shattered time to time by the screams of his nightmares when he let himself slip asleep for a few minutes at a time.

  
The salty air that brushed in was cooler than during the day; shivers ran down Finnick’s spine. “Annie,” he breathed out in surprise as his eyes set on the girl in front of him. She was wearing pajamashorts, her body wrapped up in a large sweater, her feet bare. The wind made her red hair fly, the strays of hair falling on her sea-green eyes that had dark halfmoons under them - Finnick recognized them from his own reflection in the mirror. When was the last time she had gotten some sleep?  
Suddenly, a small laugh escaped Annie’s lips. She shook her head, the lifeless joy still playing with her lips as she locked her gaze with Finnick’s. “I don’t even know why I’m here,” she said, her eyes dead even when her lips tried to curve into an ironic smile, “and yet, I’m here. I figured that it would help to talk to someone that actually has a _clue_ of what it’s like, but now that I’m actually here… I don’t know. I’m sorry, if you were sleeping.”  
“You haven’t been sleeping.” Finnick’s words weren’t a question - they were a fact. A fact he had quickly picked up from her face: the dark spots under her eyes, the way her emotions didn’t seem to agree with her facial expressions. The sympathy in his eyes made Annie look away in shame, feeling like a little girl, too clingy for her own good.

  
_“Hey, hey, hey,”_ Finnick said quickly upon seeing Annie’s reaction to his words; he tried to catch her gaze, his fingers wandering - how did  _that_ happen? - under her chin, lifting up her face so she had no choice but to look at him. “I haven’t either. Slept, that is,” he said, almost smiling when she looked at him with eyes filled with worry and sympathy - just the same kind of sympathy he had offered for her a few seconds ago, the same kind of sympathy that had made her turn away in shame.  
“You wanna come inside?” Finnick said, quickly pulling away his fingers from under her chin. He felt confused when he realized he hadn’t given his hands the permission to touch her - it had been natural, something he had been aching to do for a while now. Feel her warm skin under his touch, realize the fact that she was alive; she wasn’t fine, but at least she was alive. His thoughts drained away when Annie gave a slight nod in the dimness of the night, stepping past Finnick when he took a step back to let her in.

  
The warm air felt heavenly - slightly dusty, but heavenly, at least after standing around in the cool night.  
“You want some coffee?” Finnick asked after closing the door. He started walking towards the bright lights of the kitchen that created shadows on the hallway’s walls, pressing on the rest of the lights on as he went. He could hear Annie following, and after a few seconds he could hear her answer: “No, I don’t really like it. Had it once, and decided to _never_ taste it again.” Finnick was pleased to hear a smile in her voice; the memory of her first sip of coffee clearly still managed to amuse her.  
The kitchen was filled with the scent of coffee Finnick so much loved these days - he was sure he could go on without sleep for a while as long as he had coffee. He grabbed a cup from one of the cabinets and forced himself to keep in a big yawn; yawning meant exhaustion, and exhaustion was something he refused himself to feel. With a shudder Finnick filled the cup with the dark liquid, dropping in a fair amount of sugar cubes, too - there was no way he could bring himself to drink cups and cups of coffee a day without any sugar. Maybe he was just weak, but that was the kind of weakness he allowed himself.

  
When Finnick turned around to face the kitchen, Annie was nowhere to be seen. _“Annie?”_ He called out, eyeing the room like he was expecting the girl to be hiding behind a sculpture or under the table. “Over here,” Annie’s voice responded, and Finnick peeked slowly over the counter and for his great confusion, found Annie lying on the floor on her back, eyes closed.  
“You okay…  _In there?_ ” Finnick asked, amusement now pouring over the confusion - was she joking? Upon hearing his question, Annie opened her eyes, her eyes twinkling with something close to joy that still didn’t quite reach her lips. Eyes twinkling, she nodded and stretched out her arms on the spacey floor. “The floor’s just _so_ warm,” she explained, pressing her hand on the wooden floor with a happy sigh - for the past weeks, one of the symptoms of her exhaustion had been a constant feeling of cold, and it felt like the warm floor was melting up layers of ice from her back.

  
The look on her face was something that managed to make Finnick smile; even if the joy didn’t reach her lips in a real smile nor a laugh, there was something in her eyes that told him that she was somewhat happy, in the middle of the night, right there on his kitchen floor. And damn, he wanted her to be happy.  
Without even really realizing what he was doing, Finnick had set the coffee down and sat down on the floor. He sat there for a moment, then slowly slid down on his back with a heavy sigh, enjoying the shudders of warmth rushing through his cold body. “So we’re really those people? We lie on the kitchen floor in the middle of the night? How poetic is that?" Finnick asked, turning his head to the left to meet Annie’s gaze. Turning away, she shrugged with a slight grin, staring at the ceiling like it was the most fascinating thing in the whole wide world. “I guess we really  _are_ those people,” Annie answered, letting out a heavy breath. Silence fell over them.

  
“Have I ever told you the story about the sea turtle that swam away with my hat?” Finnick blurted out without a moment’s consideration, pleased when he felt Annie’s eyes meet his. Annie stared at her the way a person waits for another person to burst out in laughter and say that they were only kidding - but he said nothing. Slowly, she shook her head with certain curiosity twinkling behind her eyes.  
“Oh, you’re gonna  _love_ this,” Finnick said, chuckling at his own memory, “it happened when I was ten. I was at the beach - used to spent whole days there, practising with my trident - dad often let me practise on my own since I was a kid, for I was  _‘a man of my own already’._ Probably he just didn’t fancy spending his whole day cheering at me for catching seaweed.”

  
“So, there I was, standing in the water and waiting for some fish to appear. The day was windy, and the waves were so big, no kidding, and well, I was  _very_ little. I wasn’t paying attention to anything but for the hypothetic fish I was trying to catch, and in a matter of seconds a big wave crashed on me from behind. And when I dragged myself to the shore, my hat was gone. I looked for it for a while until I saw it floating on the water - except that it wasn’t really floating. It was on a seaturtle’s shell, and the damn thing was swimming away! I tried to swim after it, but the waves kept hitting against me and the turtle was really going at it - so I gave up. I gave up on my  _favorite_ hat,” Finnick finished, sighing longily,  _“it was a great hat.”_

  
Annie just stared at him, the corners of her mouth twitching. And before she even realized it herself, she was laughing. The laughter was real, and it sent a warm feeling across her body, a feeling she couldn’t explain - it was something she hadn’t quite felt since the Games, and now when she finally felt it, she truly realized how much she had missed it. It was something so unexpected, something so joyful. It was something, and Annie wanted back every little 'somethings' she had lost in the Games.  
Finnick felt his lips curving up into a grin, the sound of Annie’s bubbly laughter triggering a feeling of happiness and relief in his chest. She hadn’t laughed properly after her games, and the sound was something so special he couldn’t even describe it. She pressed her eyes shut, her body shaking with the laughter, tears nearly rolling down her cheeks. “You’re telling me - you’re telling me that  _a sea turtle_ took your hat?” Annie asked, shaking her head. Chuckling, Finnick nodded, his thumb slowly wandering to brush away the couple of tears that had eventually rolled down her cheek.

  
Annie’s eyes met Finnick’s when she felt his touch on her cheek; they had fallen silent, but there were still smiles twitching the corners of their mouths. Finnick’s thumb was still caressing the soft skin of her cheek, even if the tears were all gone - it just felt right. Touching her. Knowing that for the first time in a while, her tears were of happiness and not of fear and misery. “You still cold?” He asked. Annie took a deep breath and gave him a shrug, feeling a bunch of shivers running down her spine when he asked about it - the laughter had made Annie forget how cold she constantly felt.

  
“Come here,” Finnick said, stretching out his arm. Annie didn’t hesitate when she pressed closer to him, resting her head on his chest. “Better?” Finnick asked, breathing in her calming scent of the salty wind and the sea - it was like home. Annie always reminded him of home, and that was one of the reasons why it had been hard for him to be close to her while he was mentoring her for the Games. One of the reasons had also been the strange feeling in his chest everytime she smiled or laughed - a feeling that still made him confused, and, back then, scared.

  
“Yeah, better,” Annie whispered, listening to the sound of his heartbeat. She closed her eyes, feeling completely safe with Finnick’s left arm wrapped around her, her head on his chest. She could hear the steady rhythm of his heart, his deep breaths making her neck tingle. And right there, on Finnick’s arms, she fell asleep and into dreams that had no screaming children nor haunting shadows in them.  
When Finnick looked at her, her features completely relaxed by the relief of sleep, he couldn’t stop himself from thinking how beautiful she was.  
There was something about her. Annie was different from the girl she was the first time Finnick met her in the train, on her way to the Capitol for the first time. There was certain light missing from her, but she was still his favorite thing to look at; the way she still looked down shyly when Finnick complimented her, how her lips twitched when she heard someone say something funny. She hadn’t really laughed after the Games, but she was still there.  _She was still Annie._ Her eyes were still as mysterious as ever, her smile sometimes so bright Finnick felt like he tried to look at the sun.  _Beautiful_ . The way she smiled, the way she talked - all beautiful.  
And after years of not believing in love, Finnick realized how hard he was falling.

**Author's Note:**

> Comments and kudos are appreciated if you enjoyed it! xx


End file.
